Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Instead of listening to pop songs or pre-game playlists, British Olympic snowboarder Mia Brookes turned up the volume on Pantera when she needed a little more help calming down and focusing during the Olympic Big Air final, as per MetalIinjection. Before squeezing through with scores of 89.0 and 78.0 on her final two runs, the young sensation had to face a traumatic journey to the Big Air finals, when she crashed on her first three leaps. Brookes, who was ranked third overall going into the final on Monday, February 10, later acknowledged that the secret to withstanding the pressure was heavy metal.
I just listen to music to try to block out all the noise going on around me. Mostly heavy metal music like Metallica, Pantera, Judas Priest, stuff like that.
However, only a single band was selected for her Olympic run’s highest jump.
The Guardian claims that Brookes was listening to Pantera, who was standing on the 150-foot-tall ramp, fourth in the standings, and required a remarkable landing to reach the podium. The 19-year-old decided to try a backside 1620, a technique that had only ever been executed once in women’s snowboarding history. The rotation’s enormous force forced Brookes to overspin a little, costing her a medal even though she seemed to stick the landing and fall firmly on her heels.
It’s not like it’s a trick that I could do. I’ve only ever done it on the airbag and the last time I tried it was five months ago. So that was the first time I’ve ever tried it on snow. But sometimes you’ve just got to grit your teeth and get it done. I thought I’d got it and I did get it. I got it to my feet but I just gave it too much power, listening to my music too loud, I spun it too quickly. But yeah, I’m pumped.
I was listening to a lot of Pantera. I tried it and I’m not lying in a hospital bed after this, to be honest. All jokes aside, it’s a gnarly trick to do. There is a higher risk, especially when you know I would be the second woman to do it. So, yeah it’s pretty scary.
It was widely believed that she could have placed as high as silver with a clean landing, even though she ended up finishing fourth. Brookes is still one of Team Great Britain’s most notable players even if he didn’t win a Big Air medal. She has already demonstrated her dominance in the slopestyle competition, which is still to come. She placed first at the 2024 and 2026 X Games and won gold in slopestyle at the 2023 World Championships. She had previously won World Cups in Big Air during the 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 seasons. On the other hand, metal has consistently contributed to her success. In 2023, Brookes became the youngest snowboarding world champion ever, and she attributed her success to Metallica‘s ability to help her focus.
Listening to Metallica gets me hyped up and wanting to land all my tricks. It gets me in that mindset in the mornings. If I’m standing at the top of a slope, it helps me visualize when I’m going to drop in.
